Grappa

6.8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  5      Service  7      Value  7     

Had a large group dinner here last week with over 100 people, they handled it really well. Food was served quickly and efficiently, there was lots of it to go around and it was quite nice. Platters of pasta and olives/pizza bread for starters, then lamb and spatchcock for mains.

Dessert platters of mixed items to finish and all had nice presentation, flavour and serving size. The wine supplied was ok but in a large group booking you cannot really expect anything too exciting! The restaurant is spacious but glass walled and with no noise absorption which made it quite a ruckus, our guest speaker struggled to be heard even with the in house PA and microphone.

Enjoyable night none the less, would try it for a normal meal with the wife in strife. Easy to find location and ample parking underneath, well worth a visit to try Grappa.

Mar 28, 2012 

4.5 Below Average

Food  3      Ambience  6      Service  8      Value  1     

Even by the poor standards of Norton Street, Grappa is terrible. I attended for a birthday dinner and after waiting 90 minutes for entrees (during which time we were served copious amounts of bread) was sorely disappointed when what was presented, a prawn linguine, had zero flavour, with the exception of over cooked prawn. Lovely.

The disaster continued when mains arrived 40 minutes later. The steak was watery and absolutely flavourless. The rosemary potato sides were oily, as though the oil wasn't hot enough that they were shallow fried in.

The cake at the end was too sweet but that's pretty standard for Italian dessert, so fair play. Shame the food is a disaster, because the staff were friendly even though they appear to be chronically short-staffed. All that for $100/head. Good thing it was all you can drink.

Jan 24, 2012 

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  9      Value  8     

Ate here as a party of four on a week night. Great pre-dinner drinks, all our meals were beautiful, both to look at and eat. Service was friendly, prompt and polite. Would definitely return.

Nov 21, 2011 

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  8      Service  9      Value  8     

I went to Grappa last week and I have to say that the service and food was of a very high standard. The duck was especially delicious and the all round dining experience was excellent. I have been here before a couple of years ago and the food has improved a lot, will go back soon.

Aug 11, 2011 

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  8     

I recently went to grappa and my first impression was how lovely it was. I found the food to be delicious (a very important thing) the service was good and the wait staff polite. The people I went with are very fussy and since they had been before I presume they like it. None of us like loud noise and other reviews have commented on the noise of this restaurant but I did not find that the case. I will go back.

Jul 27, 2011 

7 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  7     

I recently joined onto a table of friends who invited me to dinner on a very last minute gesture a few weeks ago. Arriving at the restaurant, the entire place was heaving with people. Waiters, floor staff and management were all at it hammer and tongs! It gave the impression of just barely managed organised chaos! I was shown to my friends quickly enough and made feel welcome although I was an unscheduled guest.

The food was nice enough, but not what I would have thought came from the kitchen of a well known "Norton St" Italian restaurant. I think this venue's quality and attention to service etc depends on if you know the owner or are of Italian decent. We kind of felt left behind in the back corner while all the large tables of obviously Italian families were swarmed over by the brigade of "fresh of the boat" Italian born young waiters.

You can't penalise a restaurant for being loud and lively, some venues are like that, others quiet and sombre. You dont know that until you arrive (unless you search eatability beforehand!) but you can be critical of management who do not know how to manage a large, busy, loud & group orientated venue, so it doesn't look like the mad hatters tea party!

May 09, 2011 

1 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  1     

This is a large space and as it was full we thought the evening would be one of good food and good conversation. However, we could not hear ourselves think, after 5 minutes it felt like we were in a chicken coop.

The service should have been the next warning. Understaffed, the waiter clutched his head after we requested water. The slow arrival of the pizza bread, which was tasteless, with sides, forgettable, was the precurser for the other disasters to follow. The fish cooked in the cast iron pot was so hot that it was inedible for several minutes so that when eaten with the side of potatoes, which arrived luke warm, it was an interesting mix of hot and cold.

The fish, like the pizza was tasteless. When we asked for water the waiter wanted to know why we should want this. After all, we had ordered sparkling water. When another table companion asked for mustard to accompany the lamb, comment: 'never to be ordered again', the waitress didn't know what he was talking about.

The coffee was luke warm and returned. The petit fours that were supposed to come with the coffee, never arrived. The waiter was willing to give us a chocolate doggy bag! Standing near the counter observed gloveless fingers in dessert area. Wonder if these fingers were used to help plate up the sorbets on our dessert tasting plate.

May 09, 2011 

6.5 Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  6      Service  5      Value  6     

Recently ate two meals at Grappa. One was part of a function and the food was generally great. On our recent visit we booked for a family celebration with some members travelling interstate. It was a shock to find out they had no record of our reservation on a busy Saturday night! We didn't make a fuss as we didn't want our night spoilt.

In the end we were squashed in noisy section of restaurant, with no apology from staff. Food was yummy but a disappointment for our celebration as we could hardly hear each other speak! Really annoying as I requested to be seated in the back section of the restaurant which is quieter. I find it hard to believe a restaurant could overlook such basics but, fortunately, the food makes up for wait staff incompetencies!

Apr 25, 2011 

1 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  1     

I attended this place for a celebration with my family and the food was pretty nice, good quality yet way overpriced. I was very unappreciative of how we were treated when we tried to pay using a voucher special that was advertised on the Viva Sydney website. They told me that they were no longer offering that special even though when I called to book I confirmed we could use it as they were no longer participating in the promotion. I submitted the voucher which had no end date marked. With two children, my husband and I only went to this place because we had a coupon but even if we could afford we will never return. A place of no integrity if I ever saw one.

Apr 04, 2011 

4.8 Average

Food  5      Ambience  5      Service  4      Value  5     

We came for Sunday lunch in a big group, and when we arrived saw most of the tables were also big groups. We chose this place because they are supposed to handle groups well, however, we were bitterly disappointed.

It took an hour and a half for entrees to come. They kept bringing us bread (although no oil or butter) and pouring the wine but no food. None of the entrees were great, they were all average. I had the pear and fennel salad and the pear was rock hard, completely under ripe but the rest of the salad was Ok.

Mains took another hour to arrive and by then we were all starving. Again none of the food was memorable. The gnocchi with 4 cheeses was bland which I can’t understand. I couldn’t taste any cheese just cream. I think the best meal on the table was the grilled scampi which was plain and simple so they couldn’t really ruin it. The steaks came with a variety of accompaniments most of which was still left on the plate at the end. The green bean side actually came as zucchini and broccolini, no beans.

Similarly when we ordered the wine I ordered a 2006 pinot and when they brought the bottle it was the 2008. They tried to pass it off as the same thing, which it is not and then seemed baffled when I wanted to order something else instead.

In the end it took 4 hours for lunch and the kids and old people in our group were exhausted. The staff seemed friendly when you could find them but it was clear that the kitchen couldn’t cope with the amount of people there. And to top it all off during the meal they removed the couches behind us to put more tables in. Surely they should concentrate on serving the customers they already had rather than trying to squeeze in a few more.

Mar 21, 2011